How much do you "put up with" before giving up?
Or . . . When is enough enough?
Last week I mentioned Moby Dick. I didn't know a friend of mine has been trying to slog through that book. If you haven't tried to read the book, it's painfully long. You actually feel like you're adrift at sea for months in search of an impossible thing.
That raised the question: How much do you read before you give up? I've heard it said that most people never read past the first chapter of a book. That might be because they just don't like to read.
But it could also be that the book wasn't interesting!
I am a voracious reader. I try to read about one book per week. And, like most dedicated readers, I am reluctant to give up on a book. But over the years, I've come to accept the giving-up on books. The explosion of streaming media has contributed to this. If I watch a few shows of some series (no matter how highly acclaimed), I give up on it if I don't care what happens after three shows.
That led to a similar rule for fiction books. If I honestly don't care what happens to the hero after a few chapters, I move one.
And that led to a similar rule for non-fiction and business books. You have three chapters to hook me. If the first chapter is just an extended commercial for the rest of the book, you might only get one more chapter. (Not sure why authors do this. I've already bought the book. You can stop selling and start dishing out information.)
And I know you've done this with food. The beer's not great. But it is beer. Or throwing it away would be a waste. Still, there are only so many meals and beers you will consume in a lifetime. Should you be wasting your time on calories you don't enjoy?
And what about Service?
How much bad service will you put up with? Everyone has a bank they hate. And a telephone company. And maybe an airline. And maybe a PSA vendor. And maybe a distributor.
But there are limited numbers of these things. I hope I never find myself back with Bank of America. But if all the banks "lose" my business one at a time, what will I do?
There are three factors at play here:
1) I want to quit them
2) If the bad experience hasn't gone to far, I could be convinced to stay
3) Changing vendors is a potentially large pain in the neck!
What's the threshold for actually changing vendors? Is it after a month of trying to make things work? Six months? $X in costs or lost revenue? Is there a definable threshold?
I only ask because you need to be asking your clients the same thing. What would make them leave you? Or what would make you fire them?
Sometimes it's just a bad fit and everyone should go their own way before you get involved.
But if it has been a good fit, then the relationship should be strong and it should take a lot for someone to decide to make a change. I bring this up because I talk to a lot of MSPs who operate with a sense of fear that their clients will leave them. If that's true, generally, then the relationship is not very strong.
This is not just over raising rates (the biggest fear). Change of any kind can strain a relationship. Moving to managed services can create a lot of confusion. Moving to the cloud is the same. Changing Microsoft licensing. There's no shortage of change in this industry.
But you can build strong, resilient relationships that survive any amount of change! Hold regular meetings with your clients. Educate them. Spend time showing them the way. And as cliche as it sounds, become a true adviser to them.
That way, at least you'll help them through various kinds of change. And you'll learn their threshold of pain before they quit a vendor and move on.
